Attention students: get your free voter ID

February 15, 2012

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The Office of Residential Life is now offering a voter ID as a bridge between old and new student IDs.

The 2012 election season is the first in which the new Wisconsin Voter ID Law is in effect. The change means that students who have the old form of student IDs—those issued before August 2011—will not be able to use those IDs to vote.

In last semester’s BUNCHA-K funding process, $5,000 was approved to cover the cost of valid voting IDs for current Beloit College students.

This offer is only available for students in the classes of 2012, 2013, and 2014. IDs issued since August 2011 (for the class of 2015, as well as any student who has purchased a replacement ID) have all the information needed by the polling place.

Only voter IDs requested in person at the Office of Residential Life will be created and supplied. Only one voter ID will be issued per student.

“It’s not a replacement,” Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Jennie Hartzheim says. “It doesn’t work for doors, meal plan, or [the] library. It’s a blank card, not a smart card.”

Students who live on campus will only need the voter ID to vote. The registrar provides a list of students living on campus to the polling place. Students who live off campus will also need a document proving their residence.

Hartzheim says the voter ID will be available through the end of the semester. The Wisconsin Spring Primary is Tuesday, Feb. 21. The Wisconsin Spring Election and Presidential Preference Primary will be Tuesday, April 3.